A Day of Gospel Music in West Tennessee at Mason’s Zodiac Park
Black baseball fields were tremendously important in rural Black communities into the early 1970s. Every community had baseball teams and softball teams, but the ballfields …
Black History
Celebrating the Blues Culture of Brownsville and the Memory of Tina Turner
The death of soul and pop icon Tina Turner, who was a Haywood County, Tennessee native, hung heavy over this year’s Exit 56 Blues Festival …
Garry Burnside Organizes A Big Day For The Hill Country in Ripley, Mississippi
Bluesman Garry Burnside, like his brother Duwayne, grew up in the rural areas near Independence, Mississippi, between the larger towns of coldwater and Holly Springs, …
Grooving On A Sunday Afternoon
It was the first really warm Sunday afternoon of the year, and one where I had a rare Sunday afternoon gig with Big Don Valentine …
A Recollection of Memphis’ Black Majorette and Drummer Tradition
Black majorettes and majorette drummers were a unique part of the culture of Memphis’ Black neighborhoods from the late 1960s to the early 1990s. Most …
Afternoon in Shreveport and the Strange Emptiness of a Lost Downtown
I had ridden to Shreveport with someone else, and although I wanted to eat at Orleandeaux’s now that it had opened in the old Smith’s …
Are You Up For Brunch? Shreveport Is!
Shreveport has traditionally been a great town for breakfast, which happens to be my favorite meal of the day. I had many a memorable morning …
Blues at Nightfall: How Dr. David Evans and High Water Records Tried to Secure A Future For The Blues
High Water Records was founded in 1980 by Dean Richard Ranta and Dr. David Evans, an eminent folklorist who was brought to what was then …
Moscow Nights: Scenes From A Rural Juke in West Tennessee
The Delta Review has given a thorough description of Saine’s Blues Club on a couple of previous occasions. The remote juke joint north of Moscow …
Further On Up The Road: Celebrating the Legacy of Bobby “Blue” Bland in Barretville
On January 27, 1930, Robert Bland was born in rural Shelby County, Tennessee. Most biographies place the birth at Rosemark, which is barely a wide …